Bones

July is done?

Shit man.

Get out and shake your bones about...

Before we run out of summer.

Fresno Friday

Show some class.

Feeling Cool?

I am not sure you can even keep up.

I Am Older Now

So I am going to change my approach.

Be more mature...

From here on out, more motherfucker, less son of a bitch.

I Woke Up Today

A rare repeat music selection, here.

The video production quality simply can't be ignored.

I woke up today, another day older...

Still, not getting any wiser.

Though, now, perhaps more likely to crack wise.

I am old enough to have forgotten what I was running from.

I may have forgotten what I was aiming for, as well.

I am old enough to just say "fuck it."

It is my birthday.

So, shut up and party.

Plans for Today

On Getting Older

Sunday Drive

Franky, some people are just better at Sunday drives than others.

Big in Japan

Fan Mail Friday

I get this kind of shit all the time.

Dodge Fever Friday

Wash your hands.

Wear a mask or something, man...

It is highly contagious!

You may even catch the dreaded Cragar Mag-itus.

And why the poop doesn't Cragar make the cool wheels in this ad anymore?

Well, I mean the ones that are cooler than the Cragars mounted on every down and out Falcon and Nova in the world...

N3RD

Alright, so this place is in the 'hood.

We've been a few times.

Brunch and dinner...

Which aughta cover at least some of the menu, right.

I am gonna come right out and tell you that this place made me feel like an adult.

Not in that it made me feel old, or that everybody around me was much younger...

No, North Third feels like what I imagined being a grown-up was like when I was eleven.

The front room has a fair amount of goofy shit hanging all over the place...

You know, the way casual restaurants require goofy shit on the walls, they have that covered.

It is pretty bright, it has a bar and some stuff.

You can sit outside, but it has been head melting hot here so I can't speak to that.

The back room has weirder goofy shit and some art, including a giant painting of some boobs.

There is a second bar and a mix of tables...

It is darker, louder and maybe funner.

(Yes, I know funner is improper English. Go write your own post about the decay of language if you are bothered by that. Funner works there.)

The menu is all over the place, which works for me.

It only works because they seem to put out good food, without some high minded theme.

The theme might just be make it all well...

North Third seems to be geared towards a groupof people meeting up for a drink and a nosh.

Lots of little snacks, some salads and some big-ass plates to help fend off the drinks...

Service seems right on, or at least very earnest.

Steve, one of the bartenders, has an accent...

People love to listen to dudes with accents talk, right?

Either way, the food comes fast and the glasses stay full.

So anyway, back to the grown up part...

I am sitting at the bar, gnawing away at a plate of steak and frites (which was rather nicely prepared).

I gulp down some old grape juice, so that I might try to continue my conversation with KVC about how good her crispy skinned salmon is...

Loudly, because there is some of my favorite music blasting so loudly that chatting needs to be timed for the slow parts of songs.

While twisting around, to check on the giant titty painting...

It hits me.

This is exactly what I imagined going out for a grown-up dinner would be like, as a juvenile.

That is a pretty good thing.

Watson Wednesday - RIP

Well shit...

Just a few days after I post up that sweet seaweed flamed Chevy, painted by Larry Watson...

He's dead.

More details on the life of a cool guy here.

"Look at This Box"

Twin Motor Tuesday

Because, marrying two engines together to make one giant tire melting moment makes total sense.

Mint 400 Monday

Sunday Drive

Chicks dig cool cars.

Feeling Cool?

Well, cheers to you then.

What?

Fueler Friday

Funny

I was just thinking of you, too.

Thrashin' Thursday

Now that is some totally radical sidewalk surfing stunt work, right there...

No.

I am being serious...

You try it.

Get Him On the Phone

I don't know who this was imagined by...

I do know that this comes from just the sort of designers I am looking for in my ongoing efforts to take over the world.

Rocket Propelled Chainsaw.

Somebody get this person on the phone.

Now.

All Tucked In

This is where you need to be...

If you wanna keep that number plate.

Damned Crazy German

Yeah...

The Crazy German hasn't been returning my calls.

I always assume it is because I have said something wildly offensive or insulting in my last drunken voicemail.

(I do have a bit of a reputation for that sort of behavior.)

I guess he has been building bikes, getting all famous with the DicE magazine guys and showing off my painting.

So, I guess I get to be known as the elephant/piss bucket guy with the cool biker crowd.

Which is nice...

Pink Taco Tuesday

Yeah, I have shown this bike before...

But really, how can one resist posting pics of a wild Honda chop with a name like...

The Pink Taco.

Full Circle Rainbow

Oh, man...

It is a full circle rainbow!

That is like seventeen times more awesome that a double rainbow.

So amazing.

Full circle rainbow!

Muskie Monday

Look, for the Coming Season

If you don't already have one.

Sunday Drive

When you get to the corner...

Turn left.

Who Dat?

Cool.

What Are You Doing?

Us?

You know...

Just hanging out.

Friday Flames

Yes, I am well aware that I was just complaining about wild, flake paint jobs the other day...

But, honestly, you have to be crazier than a shithouse bat to not think this is cool.

Seaweed flames rule.

Fan Mail Friday

I get this kind of shit all the time.

City Bike

I live in the city again...

So I have been thinking about city bikes.

The sorta thing you can bomb around on, jump curbs and haul ass on.

Pretty much this bike.

I really can't build another single seat bike again.

That would be trouble...

PaperMonster

We rambled out to the first First Friday art walk thing we have been here for, since living in Philly.

A late start kept our gallery walkin' close to home.

Right here in the NoLib (my abbreviation, nobody else seems to say that) neighborhood.

I had read about this opening and figured it was worth the shoe leather to get there, art by some dude calling himself PaperMonster.

Kind of an odd show.

Lots of work, all using the exact same approach/theme thing.

Big, black surface + female face comprised of little paper pictures cut out...

It was like seeing how PaperMonster works out his process.

Most all the work looking nearly the same.

Variation in basic form and detail only.

There were a couple of random laser etched skate decks tossed in, which only added to me thinking I was seeing an idea getting sorted out...

We are bringing one of those home, so I guess I liked them and maybe the whole show.

There is proof that KVC and I were in attendance, if you look for it, in the link.

That is our red dot on one of the walls...

PaperMonster is doing an artist's talk thing later this month at the gallery...

If you missed the opening, perhaps you can check it then.

We made one other stop on our abbreviated art gawk walk.

A jury curated thing...

Those seem to never quite work.

So, I will stop yapping about that.

Some decent, or interesting work mixed with some stuff that occupied space.

Go look at some art...

Or better yet, go make some.

Get Some

Ya know what?

I think I will start writing about some shit here...

I mean I do that anyway.

Sorta..

But not really.

So, I guess I am warning you that I may start posting about things here, in this old city new to me.

Because there is a tremendous shortage of folks spouting off about mundane shit on the internet, right?

Well, let's not dwell on that.

No, I am just talking about presenting some words relating to me relating with this city.

Food and art and whatever the hell else I care to bore you with...

I have avoided that, here...

I mean on this site.

Well, I guess that is all that happens here, really.

But you are here anyway...

Still.

Expect some more tags on posts.

Be ready for me to talk about crap art at galleries.

I will probably even rag on local eateries.

Why, the fuck, not?

Do not expect pictures.

You might see a link or something I steal off the web...

I am not about to start snapping pics like some sad Yelp'r whore, hoping for a free dessert.

I have shit to do...

Kinda.

I will just let you know what I think...

Be it a sandwich cart, gallery, artist or what have you.

I will tell you where to find it...

And you can go and make up your own mind, or not.

I will try to keep it on point.

I guess...

Sorta.

Hell, I can't even say what the point of this deal is...

Expect things to be all over the god-damned place.

They are, already.

Expect more of the same.

I mean shit, I am not some tourist guidebook, here.

I am just letting you know...

This is about to be the most relevant site dealing with the most cultural happenings in Philly (as that is where I happen to be)...

That also features weird ramblings from a crazy person.

I am just saying...

Shinya

The whole custom bike scene is full of folks aping one another...

Looking for that rare, old random part that will make them cooler than the next guy...

Via consumption.

Layers of glitter paint, goofy handlebars, swastika tail lights...

This guy is making shit...

Genuinely cool shit.

His own way.

Making it.

Riding it.

Racing it.

Doing it.

Bultaco Tuesday

It almost seems a shame to get this dirty...

If it wouldn't be so much damned fun coating it with a thick layer of mud and dust.

Marigold Monday

I remember that on my grandparents farm there was this one dog who ate marigolds.

But real sneaky like.

I mean, dog sneaky, which is not very covert at all.

Dogs just think they are sneaky.

Dogs are in no way subtle or sneaky.

He (name withheld to protect his identity) was one of those dogs that just show up on farms.

That seems to happen on farms, dogs just show up and stay.

The dogs that show up seem to be trained by the world, before settling on a farm.

They know what to bark at and what to leave alone, they know when to follow machinery and when to sit on the porch.

Marigolds must exist outside of their training program, however.

This dog, I am chatting you up about, would casually just take a seat near the flower bed.

As we all panted through the humid summer evening...

Everybody just staring at the horizon, waiting for the heat shimmer to go away.

And outta nowhere...

Chomp.

Once folks resumed that hundred mile stare...

Chomp.

And there would be a few less marigolds in the flower bed.

If I remember correctly, that dog hung out for at least a few years.

Though the marigolds never quite made a recovery in my grandmothers flowerbed.

Happy 4th, Man

New City

So, we have been here in Philly a few weeks now.

New city, new life, new adventures.

All of our stuff made it here, except it seems all of our tupperware type shit, the food processor thingy and some baking dishes.

I can't remember seeing if that cabinet ever got packed, but it's not here.

I think we can sort that out, though.

Not bad, considering the logistics associated with this whole move...

We have pretty well found our way around our new 'hood.

The vibe close by is pretty great, and we are thankful for that...

Gonna try to explore some more this weekend and get down with the whole patriotic thing, here in the founding city of our nation.

Hit up some Chinese festival, the market, a parade in Old City, along with watching shit blow up is the agenda for the weekend.

Nothing is set in stone, we're just gonna try to have some fun and see some stuff...

I have been surprised by the whole "brotherly love" vibe this place has...

That is not just talk, it seems.

This town is one of the most inclusive urban environments I have ever dove into.

Once we get past the "You moved here from San Francisco...why?" conversation, everybody wants to dial us into there favorite things about the city, help us out, or invite us to their upcoming fun day...

Hints of some serious racial tension in the city seem to melt away as soon as folks realize we are just here to enjoy life, like everybody else.

So, we are here, doing our thing...

Mostly settled in.

Enjoying the adventure.

Sunday Drive

I trust you know where you're going.